Partick Thistle 1 Celtic 3
CRISTIAN GAMBOA and Emilio Izaguirre gave Celtic a major boost down the flanks at Firhill this afternoon as the holders defeated Partick Thistle 3-1 to reach the Quarter Finals of the Betfred Cup.
And the Costa Rican just saw off the Honduran as our Man of the Match, creating two wonderful goals after Celtic had somehow allowed the hosts back into the match.
Brendan Rodgers will be delighted with the performance of today’s full-backs and both players were warmly praised in song by an appreciative Celtic support. Rodgers must now seriously consider Gamboa as his first choice right back, and there is surely an argument for keeping Izaguirre in the side and moving Kieran Tierney, who missed out today with a calf strain, inside to sort out the hesitancy in central defence. Tierney was in his usual place when not playing – in among the Celtic support.
Even against a Championship side like Partick Thistle, Celtic had problems in the central defence. Jack Hendry took around 5 too many touches at one stage and that led to the action that gave Thistle a shock equaliser.
Celtic started strongly, dominating possession and pushing Thistle back deep into their own half. Leigh Griffiths set up Tom Rogic on 4 mins for Celtic’s first attempt on goal. And the Australian tried again on 8 minutes, this time his goal bound shot was deflected for a corner.
The breakthrough was coming and it arrived after Ntcham and Sinclair combined and the Englishman turned his marker to get the goal-line. His cut back to Griffiths allowed the Celtic number 9 to drive the ball through a defender and under Thistle keeper Cammy Bell and into the net.
This was Griffiths’ 99th goal for Celtic and he was hungry for more. He could have reached his century on 24 minutes after skilful play from Rogic and Johnston saw the youngster shoot weakly at Bell who gathered. A little reverse pass to Griffiths was on for a tap in and the striker, who turns 28 tomorrow was left frustrated.
The Celtic defence wasn’t troubled at all in the early stages of this game and Kristoffer Ajer stepped into an offensive role with around half an hour gone, only to be taken out by Gordon who earned the only yellow card of the first half and also injured himself in the process. Minutes later he was replaced.
Johnston had another opportunity on 32 minutes after a good cross from Sinclair who had combined well with the impressive Izaguirre. The Celtic fans chanted their appreciation as the returning hero played in front of them down the left hand side.
On 38 minutes Johnston was involved again, setting up Tom Rogic whose effort was saved by Bell.
Stoppage time at the end of the first half was hectic. Slater got a shot away from distance but didn’t trouble Bain. Then Gamboa put in a lovely cross for Rogic to header towards goal but Bell gathered. The action wasn’t over yet as Doolan’s header went over then Celtic went up the park and Olivier Ntcham rattled the crossbar.
Early in the second half Rogic put Ntcham through on goal but the Frenchman was flagged offside, it looked like an honest mistake from the assistant referee.
Talking of honest mistakes, how Craig Thomson pulled out a yellow rather than a red card for a shocking challenge by Storer on Scott Brown, we’ll never know. The Celtic captain let the referee know in no uncertain terms that he got that one wrong when he was able to get back on his feet.
Mikey Johnston continued to threaten and after a good run his cross come shot almost found the net. With 64 minutes gone, Griffiths was replaced by Moussa Dembele who made an immediate impact by dismissing any defensive challenge to win the ball and drive a powerful shot at Cammy Bell, who did well to save.
Forrest replaced Mikey Johnston on 69 minutes and a minute later Thistle took off Storer who was surely one foul away from seeing red. The replacement, Fitzpatrick looked like a decent young player and was involved a few minutes later as Thistle shocked Celtic by levelling the score.
Hendry got himself into a terrible mess and although he recovered eventually the play down Celtic’s left developed with the young substitute driving at the Celtic defence before finding Mutumbo. His shot was missed by Hendry and found the bottom corner of the Celtic net, going in off the post. The Celtic players were rattled and a header from Ntcham from a Thistle corner moments later prevented the hosts going in front.
But two minutes later Cristian Gamboa and Forrest combined brilliantly and the Costa Rican found Dembele who seemed to use his knee to score. Ntcham was replaced by McGregor before play resumed.
The Gamboa Forrest axis down the right worked a treat again a few minutes later with Gamboa showing a real hunger to use Forrest for a one two before finding Rogic whose right foot shot found the net to give Celtic a 3-1 lead.
The supporters chanted Gamboa’s name and deservedly so.
Brendan Rodgers wasn’t very pleased with the performance, describing it as ‘not very good’.
The Celtic manager said: “The performance was not very good, obviously it was a good result.”
The manager reckoned his side’s pressing and intensity were not good enough today, “and of course it gives them an opportunity. Okay we had the ball and were reasonably comfortable but a lot of our game was not very good today,” Rodgers said
Second half Goalscorers Tom Rogic and Moussa Dembele both spoke about the importance of winning this game after the disappointment in Athens in midweek. Rogic was glad to win the match after a tough week for the club.
“It’s been a bit of a tough week,” Rogic admitted. “It’s nice to get back to winning ways. You have to get over it quickly, we have to work hard, move on at this club there are always big games.”
Moussa Dembele was pleased to get some game time and to get a goal. The French striker said that it was “good to get a run out today, I have been out for three weeks. It has been hard but as football players you have to keep your head up and play.”
The Celtic Star Man of the Match – Cristian Gamboa
